Tangier with lamb cooked in the Hammam of Marrakesh

The tangier is a slow roasted meal, made in a tangier pot, with meat such as lamb, chicken, beef or osso bucco cuts, plus garlic, water, lots of saffron and a special tangier spice called rosea. The tangier is cooked in the Hammam coals for some hours. Rosea is the special spice mixture used in the tangier, made from a sweet, floral blend of rose petals, cinnamon, and cardamom.

Serves 6

1.5k lamb leg cut into 4 thick ‘chops’
Splash of rose water and orange flower water into the tangier over the lamb
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ras el hanout
3 star anise
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp licorice
6 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and chopped
1 gram saffron threads
Bunch or handful of parsley on the stalks
Water to cover the meat

The mix of cinnamon and cardamom with the rose water is what we used as the rosea spice in this recipe.

In the tangier pot, mix together all the ingredients, cover and seal with thick, strong brown paper and tie securely with with string. Take the pot to the hammam before 10am for slow cooking in the hammam coals. Collect at 7pm in the evening, just in time for dinner!

For cooking this dish outside of Marrakesh, do as above but cook in a large pot on the top of the stove. Seal the top with baking paper and tinfoil, plus the lid; cook very slowly for 3 – 4 hours, preferably with the pot on a diffuser, to reduce the chance of burning the bottom.